The present invention relates to faucets, and relates more particularly to a wash-basin faucet which defines a water passage at the bottom of a ceramic valve thereof above the bottom wall of a valve housing thereof for guiding hot/cold water out of the valve housing to the water outlet pipe smoothly and quickly.
A variety of faucets have been disclosed, and have appeared on the market. Conventionally, a hot/cold water faucet comprises a hot water control valve and a cold water control valve respectively controlled to regulate the flow rate of hot and cold water. Nowadays, single control valve type hot/cold water faucets have been very popular for the advantage of high convenience in hot/cold water flow rate regulation.
FIGS. 1, 2, 2-A, and 2-B show a known structure of wash-basin faucet to which the present invention pertains. The wash-basin faucet comprises a ceramic valve 3 received in a hollow valve seat 2 and covered inside a casing and controlled by an operating handle to regulate hot/cold water flow rate. The valve seat 2 comprises a chamber 21, which receives the ceramic valve 3, a horizontal blocking wall 211 on the inside at the bottom of the chamber 21, a tortuous hot water intake hole 212 and a tortuous cold water intake hole 213 vertically disposed through the blocking wall 211 and respectively connected to the hot and cold water supply pipes for guiding hot/cold water W1 into the ceramic valve 3, and a tortuous water outlet hole 214 for guiding regulated water W2 out of the ceramic valve 3 and the valve seat 2. The ceramic valve 3 comprises a two water inlet holes 31 and a water outlet hole 32 respectively connected to the hot and cold water intake holes 212;213 and water outlet hole 214 of the valve seat 2 through end match. Because the water inlet holes 31 and water outlet hole 32 of the ceramic valve 3 are respectively connected to the hot and cold water intake holes 212;213 and water outlet hole 214 of the valve seat 2 through end match, the hot and cold water intake holes 212;213 and water outlet hole 214 of the valve seat 2 must be made tortuous to ensure the isolation of the water passage ways from one another. In order to make the water intake holes 212;213 and water outlet hole 214 tortuous, the sand molding of the valve seat 2 is complicated, causing a high defective rate. Therefore, this structure of wash-basin faucet is expensive to manufacture. Further, because regulated water W2 is guided out of the valve seat 2 to the water outlet pipe through the tortuous water outlet hole 214, water pressure will be relatively reduced when passing through the tortuous water outlet hole 214, and therefore the output flow of water from the water outlet pipe of the faucet will become unstable. If the output flow of water of the faucet is unstable, the ignition operation of the water-ignition type gas-burning water heater becomes unstable, and a leakage of fuel gas may happen.